Don Covay

BEHIND THE front line of acknowledged soul stars, the Stevies, Arethas, Al Greens of the day, has always lurked a second league of creative talent; in particular, a small group of seemingly ageless all-round studio men, writer/producer/artists whose fortunes wax and wane as they hurriedly jump on bandwagons and off again, record for one label, then another, and chalk up involved track records that are an avid R&B researcher's delight: figures like Donnie Elbert, Jerry 'Swamp Dogg' Williams, and especially the highly underrated Don Covay, who at the age of 37 is currently on the way up again via a funky if faddish tribute to the African exploits of Muhammad Ali, 'Rumble In The Jungle'.